Process for decorating walls and other surfaces



E K. Fo 1,867,068

PROCESS FOR 'DECRATNG WALLS AND OTHER SURFACES july l2, 3,932.

2 sheets-sheet i Filed- Dec Juy Z, 1932. EQK FQWLER 1,867,068

vPOGESS FOR DECORATING WALLS AND OTHER SURFACES Filed neo. 18, 1930 2 sheets-sheet 2 the entire surface.

Patented July 12, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE EDGAR IK. FOWLER, 0F COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO Application led December 18, 1930. Serial No. 503,333.

This invention relates to the process of decorating walls and particularly to a process for decorating walls and other surfaces by printing, mottling,and blending washable oil colors.

The main object of this invention is to provide a process of decorating walls and other surfaces which will produce new, pleasing and artistic effects at a cost lower in price than by methods used heretofore and which process will produce color and design schemes of great variety with practically no repetition of pattern unless desired.

A further object is to provide a process of decorating which will require less time to apply than where the Walls are decorated in the usual way of producing mottled, blended or textured effects in oil colors in which thel cost of material is much less and in which the color effects desired or design eects desired are secured by eliminating from the surface of the wall the color applied thereto at anyy desired point or points so that the basic color of the wall will show through.

d known to me in that instead of using white pigment superposed upon the wall or pigment having a heavy color, I first coat the Wall with a layer of relatively light pigment, to form a ground color. While I have referred to this ground color as being relatively light in tone or color, it might be dark in tone or color.

This ground color is flat in the sense that it has no design upon it, but is uniform over Briefly I then apply a variety of different colored or different toned transparent colors to the wall, blend them to a greater or less extent over the surface of the wall to give a mottled edect and then 'i before the blended colors are dry or set, I remove the blended colors from the wall `whereever desired so that the basic layer or ground will show through to a greater or less extent.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein VFigure 1 is a view showing a portion of the wall with the first of the ground coat applied thereto Figure 2 vis the wall shown in Figure l but with a first coat of glazing color applied 001 thereto ;V f

.Figure 3 shows the face of the wall with different transparent colors daubed thereon; Figure 4 shows the wall in Figure 3 with the color more or less distributed or blended;

F lgure 5 isa perspective view of the blending tool;

Y' Figure 6 is a face view of the same wall v Vshown in Figure l but with the paint still more blended thereon by means of the T printer; v

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the printer f Figure 8 is a view of a portion of the wall, showing onemanner in which a stripe may be formed and an ornamentation on the stripe; Y v

Figure 9 is a like view to Figure 8 but showing another stripe ornamentation;

,Figure l0 is a perspective View of one form of striping tool;

Figure l1 is a fragmentary elevation of another form of striping tool.

Referring to these drawings, Figure l illustrates a surface over which a basic lat color 10 has been laid uniformly. This may be any desired color, either light or dark, andis preferably a flat wall paint. After' `this ground color has dried, the surface is given a coat of glazing liquid which may be used' 90" clear or slightly tinted. The tinted glazing liquid willV produce additional shades to the colors that are to be applied while glazing liquid is still wet. This shown in Figure2 at 10a. 95

The operator then daubs upon the ground so laid, patches of different colors or different tones. This is shown in Figure 3V where the patches are designated 11; These patches 'might be colors of the same character but of 10 'Y different strengths or may be (lider-ent colors ing liquid, made much thinner by the additionV thereto of turpentine and a small amount of linseed oil. v Y Y All of the colors used are transparent and of pure tone and, therefore, do notghave the muddy appearance of colors containing white or heavy color pigment. After the wall or other surface has been daubed with patches of color as at 11, in FigureJ3, these colors are more or less blended over the surface of the wall as at 12 in Figure 4, the blender being illustrated in' Figure 5 and designated 13. This blender is preferably a flat piece of wood having' a handle and rounded at its edge, the rounded edge being covered with rubber 14C. Y A

The blender is used by rubbing the blender lightly in a circular motion. It will be understood that this `does not leave the wall with the colors necessarily perfectly blended but leaves vthe wall with the colors at least reduced by intermixture with each other and smeared over the surface of the wall. When this has been done, the colors are still further blended in a sense by applying whaty I have termed a printing tool tothe colors by tapping the tool against the wall.

t This acts to further blend the colors and gives a texture eli'ect to the surface. The printer is shown in Figure 7 and designated generally 15 and consists primarily of a strip of thin rubber folded backward and forward upon itself to form apvplurality of convolutions, the edge of the rubber being scalloped or nicked so as to make the edge of the rubber very flexible. After the printing tool `has been used by tapping it all over the surface to further blend the colors and permit a design and colors are partially set, the blending tool may then be used by rubbing the wall lightly to further blend the colors. The printing tool will act to take up the wet color in spots showing the ground Vbeneath and will also act to transfer the wet color on the printing tool tojrother parts of the Wall. The wall with the blended and printed surface is shown in Figure 6 where the blended and printed surface is designated 16. c l

After the printing tool has been used and the Vcolors partly set, the colors may be again blended by rubbing the surface lightly with the blending tool 13. They wall may be left in thiscondition to dry which will give a surface which is moreor less mottled, the blended color over the 'ground being pulled -away or wiped olf of the ground in spots over the entire area.` By manipulating the printing tool as for instance by twisting it in the hand and guiding it over the surface of the wall according to some general design or plan, the mottled surface may be given a general design as it-might be termed. The area over which'the color is wiped off to show the ground beneath, for instance, might be in swirls or sinuous patterns or any general semi-defined pattern kmight thus be formed upon the wall or an all-over effect be secured by tapping the entire surface of the wall with the printing tool, continually taking ofi" some portion or portions of the wet outer layeruntil the eect desired has been secured. The wall should then-be left to dry and when dry may bevgiven a coat of flat, semi-gloss or gloss varnish,depend ing upon the finish desired, to produce a uniform flat, semi-gloss or gloss finish. This final coat is optional. The wall may ythen be considered Vas completely decorated.

' Tn many cases, it is desirable to have a striped ei'ect upon the wall with the allover7 effect and in that case, the wet tinted glazing color is removed from the basic coating by means of a plurality of stripers.` In Figure 10,1 designate a striperf17 which consists of a wooden member having two striping wipers 13 inserted therein Yand-.spaced apart. Y

ln Figure 11, T show a striping Vwiper in which the wiper designated 18a formsv one:

solid piece extending entirely across Y the striper.l Various widths of wiper 13 may bel used or any number of wipers arrangedin any desired relation to each other mayl be used within a handle such as 17. The striper is used by moving it down or` up the wall (or across the wall if desired),.wiping.off

thereby the outer coating which hasbeen previously mottled and blended to an extent depending entirely upon vthe width or ar-A Vone of these stripers, the basic coat will be disclosed to a greater or'lesszextent depending upon the pressure applied to the striper and to the cleanness with which the stripe isV wiped off.

lf the striper is only lightly used, a thin transparent coating of the glazing colorV will be left over the basic coat, the basic coat showing through this "thin transparent coat and being modified thereby. Where the striper is pressed firmly against the wall, all of the glazing color will be removed and the basic coat will show through.

F orthe purpose of applyingthestriper.

to the wall so as to secure a perfectly straight line, I preferably use a straight edge having a length equal to the length between the ceiling and the floor or, of course, disposed in a horizontal plane if the striper is to be used horizontally. This straight edge may be of any suitable construction and obviously an adjustable stra-ight edge might be used so as to be adjusted to different heights of wall or to different spaces or panels.

After a stripe has been wiped from the wall and the colors are dry, whether this stripe be narrow or wide, it is obvious that the printing tool or blender may be again used upon the surface of the stripe to secure any desired effect or a stencil may be applied to the stripe to provide an ornament on the stripe as illustrated in Figure 8 where such ornament applied to the stripe 19 is designated 20.

Another way of forming an ornamental stripe or band consists in applying to the mottled and printed glazing color, as for instance the coat in the condition shown in Figure 6, a stencil having a design cut out therein and then wiping down this stencil to remove the glazing color from the spaces defined by the stencil, so that when the stencil in turn is removed a design is formed by the removal of the glazing color, the ground coat showing through the open spaces of the stencil. This is shown in Figure 9 where such figures are designated 21. Such a stencil band may be used in connection'with f, striping formed by wiping away the glazing color and allowing the ground coat to show in the manner heretofore described and shown in Figure 8.

Attention is called to the fact that in the striping operation, the action o-f the wiping element on the striper is not only to wipe off' the glazing color from the ground coat or basic coat, but to carry this color laterally so that the stripeis defined by relatively dark lines. The same action is present with the printer where the twisting of the printing device 15 as it is tapped upon the wall will shift the darker colors to the edge of the folded rubber so that lines are left, if desired, upon the surface, these lines, of course, being more or less definite and eX- tending more or less in all directions depending upon the manipulation of the printing tool.

It will be seen that the distinction between Figure 8 and Figure 9 is that in one case after the striper has been operated to remove the glazing color from the inner coating or ground, a stencil has been used in the usual' l. In Figure 9, however, the design is formed VI have only illustrated diagrammatically` the steps used in my process and am not able to indicate the number and variety of wall finishes which may be obtained either with a regularv design scheme or with an all-over blending ofcolors with perhaps .an

entirely indefinite pattern therein.

Tt is obvious, however, that the color and design schemes may be of infinitevariety with practically no repetition of pattern where the printing tool shown in Figure7 is used. In the hands of even an inexperienced workmamthis process may be lused to produce very interesting color effects and designs for surface decoration.` The work may be done 1n less time by my process than 1n the usual way of printing and blending andthe cost of the material is much less. The tools' required are simple, inexpensive and easily replaced when necessary. I use rubber vin forming the blender, printing tool and'various forms of stripers. I have found that rubber treated so as to avoid deterioration by the action of the oil or other vehicle is best because this allows the glazing color, for instance, as in the striper, to be entirely `taken off of the striper when it is to be again :applied to a wall, thus preventing any smearing of the colors where this is not desirable.

This permits also more or less of the color to be left upon the striper and'it permits the printing tool to be wiped olf from time to time whenever it is desired, for instance, if it be desired that the printing tool shall remove the glazing color from the ground. V

It is to be understood that if desired, the glazing liquid slightly tinted may be placed upon the wall and not printed, mottled or blended and then the striper used to remove the tinted glazing liquid in stripes or bands, leaving the ground coat of the wall to show and after drying the glazing color may be printed, mottled, blended or otherwise formed upon this striped surface and treated in the way hereafter described. ThusA the striped surface might be initially formed before the glazing color is applied and treated with the blender and printing tool.

Or the striping may be done after the surface has been blended and printed. When a wall has been striped and is dry, it is given a coat of glazing liquid and before this is set, the transparent colors are daubed on. Then blended with the blending tool, by rubbing in a circular manner that merges the colors; then printed with the printing tool by tapping lightly. Any excess color may be taken o by touching lightly with a soft cloth.,l This application of color does not negative thefstripe.

. I claim 1. A process of decorating Walls or other surfaces which consists in laying a basiccolor to form a ground and allowing the ground to dry, applying thereto a glazing liquid tinted With any desired color, .applying different colors of color on to the coating of glazing liquid before the latter has set, breakingup the spots of color and blending them together, and then applying a tool vto the blended layer to further blend the color together more con1- pletely and to remove color in selected places from the ground. Y Y 2. A process of decorating Walls or other surfaces which consists in laying a basic color to form a ground and allowing the ground to dry, applying thereto a glazing liquid tinted With any desired color, daubing diffe ent colors on the glazing liquid before the latter is set, blending these different colors or tones over the ground, tapping the surface While still Wet with an edge of a convoluted strip of rubber to remove the outer coa-ting Vfrom the ground in selected places and fur# ther and more linely blend the colors, and then removing the blended layer of colors in straight lines to permit the ground to show through the blended layer in the form of stripes or bands.

I'n testimony whereof I hereunto aliiX my signature.

' EDGAR FOWLER. 

